The game puts the player in the role of a bartender at the eponymous VA-11 Hall-A, a small bar in a dystopian downtown which attracts interesting customers.

The original prototype is downloadable for free on the game's official website, and players who pre-ordered gained access to a playable yet separate prologue.

The original planned release date of December 2014 was moved back multiple times due to delays, including when the developers changed the game engine.

[5] In the game, the player assumes the role of a bartender at "VA-11 Hall-A" (pronounced Valhalla), a small dive bar[6] in a dystopian downtown said to attract interesting clientele.

[11] Players can also visit shops and buy items using money they earn while working at the bar to decorate Jill's home, as well as to pay the rent.

[18] Designer Christopher Ortiz noted that the bartending mechanics in VA-11 Hall-A were made to deliberately "tease the player's mind into doing things out of the box", as opposed to "play[ing] through [it] like a machine, always serving what the patron want[s] and never questioning what they [are] doing.

[21] The player character of the game is Jill[22] (formerly named Gillian during development),[18] the bartender at the eponymous VA-11 Hall-A dive bar in Glitch City.

[18][11] Jill is a young female bartender who chose to forego an offer to work at a research institute, instead finding herself to be better suited to the "field of alchemy" in mixing drinks for customers at a dive bar.

[6] The game contains a "colorful cast" of regulars at the bar, including "sex working robots, assassins, private detectives, and pop stars", with how the player serves them having lasting impacts on their lives.

[23] Other characters in the game include Kim, a neurotic girl who is found passed out outside the bar one evening; Stella, a catgirl; Sei, one of the few pure-hearted and non-corrupt White Knights tasked with protecting Glitch City;[10] *Kira*Miki, an android idol singer; as well as Deal and Betty, an android and veterinarian respectively, who work at a company whose majority of employees are "corgi dogs, fitted with voice boxes.

Our main focus as developers is blending mechanics and story in a way that one could not exist without the other so the gameplay in VA-11 HALL-A, albeit simple, does have a strong impact on what you see on screen.

[21] VA-11 Hall-A uses the GameMaker: Studio engine as the developers felt it is suitable for the game's "bunch of crazy effects" and is also easy to port to other platforms.

[14] Ortiz noted that this was as the developers wanted to see more characters and expand on the stories of the world they built, as well as them looking for a "good challenge design-wise" that engages the player.

[20] Tenacity in the face of difficulty can be found in every character the player interacts with in the game, where despite "each one surviving through varying degrees of hardship, they describe their problems not with bitterness but with an undertone of perseverance"[20] and a certain "burning desire to be happy" notwithstanding their deteriorating surroundings.

After thinking of a "cool trait or occupation" of the character, their detailed profile is made, "span[ning] from imagining their family life to sleeping habits to what kind of pizza toppings they might prefer."

[20] Before adding individual depth, the developers sought to first create a "base", consisting of an easily identifiable trait, for each character to curb redundancy and keep them unique.

[20] TouchArcade noted that VA-11 Hall-A also has a more "salacious side", due to the presence of sexually suggestive character interactions that was present in the game's demo.

[10] Additionally, through its characters, VA-11 Hall-A challenges traditional viewpoints on affection, relationships, and friendships in video games, writes Ana Valens of Den of Geek.

[10] Ortiz and Damas attempted to infuse political allegories and social commentary into the characters and their stories without overburdening or taking focus away from the main plotline.

"[5] This sentiment was echoed by Kyle LeClair of Hardcore Gamer, writing that "VA-11 Hall-A sure looks great and has quite a unique hook to it, so we'll be sure to try and wet our whistles with it when it comes out on the PC".

[32] PC Gamer's Phil Savage praised the game's character interactions, noting that "it's through these brief, unguarded conversations that the cyberpunk bartending sim slowly unfolds its story; not of a dystopian world, but of the people living in it."

"[36] Push Square's Nicola Hayden added that "gaining cult success around the more niche areas of the Internet, VA-11 Hall-A, a cyberpunk bartending simulator, has managed to stir up quite a fuss.

[12] Katherine Cross of Gamasutra, while not giving a final score, praised Jill's character as not being a traditional protagonist or "in control of much" in her world, the setting, as well as the "delightfully colorful" cast; and that VA-11 Hall-A successfully "make[s] magic out of the mundane."

[23] Mike Cosimano of Destructoid awarded VA-11 Hall-A a score of 9/10, referring to it as a "hallmark of excellence" and complimenting the game's design, characters, as well as the "connection" felt between the player and the protagonist.

[41] Cecilia D'Anastasio of Kotaku echoed this sentiment, finding VA-11 Hall-A to be "wildly impressive" and a "brilliant experiment in storytelling", which is "a must-buy for fans of interactive fiction, stylized retro games, cyberpunk and girls with cat ears – just about everybody, right?

He found the writing to be "decent" and the characters "generally enjoyable, even when they're not exactly likeable", and praised the game's references to current pop-culture issues and internet climate, for example 4chan, human augmentation and manufactured pop stars.

"[8] However, PC Gamer's review was more nuanced, opining that although "what Valhalla is trying to do is interesting", "playing it is boring", with criticism directed at the repetitive nature of gameplay as well as the game's tone, which leaves a "strange, unpleasant lingering taste in your mouth" due to the oftentimes unrealistic dialogue, for a rating of 60/100.

[44] Much of these sentiments where echoed by Kate Gray of Eurogamer; she also praised the premise as interesting, but lamented that "Valhalla's bartending is just boring", with not enough player control to make the game feel creative.

An article by GamesRadar staff of the "12 PAX East games we wish we were still playing" included VA-11 Hall-A; praise was directed at the game's complexity, and how "you can decide to give the customer the drink they ordered, flipping through the recipe book and dragging ingredients into the mixer in a simple minigame, or you can screw it up, and give them something totally different", as well as the "wildly different directions" the narrative takes as a result.

[62] It takes place on Saint Alicia, a fictional resort island in the Caribbean, and follows Sam, a working mother with an 8-year-old son who is having relationship issues with her partner Leon.